Authors note: shout out to chaoskultist, thanks for the name suggestion.

chapter 4

when i awoke, the first thing i noticed was that the cave felt smaller. it wasn't that it shrunk, i had grown. i stretched and yawned, getting ready for a night of hunting while stretching i noticed that my broken and cracked ribs had healed, and i guessed that the process of evolving healed wounds. i didn't know it this would be useful, evolving wouldn't be a regular occurrence. plus, i also wanted to see what my evolution had done. After making my way down the mountain i went to the lake, and inspected myself. what i saw surprised me.

i was now the size of a lion, and my fur now had red streaks through it. i tried licking one, but it stayed, meaning that my fur grew that way. the other thing that surprised me was that my pupils were completely red, and the outside that was green had streaks of black running through it, giving the illusion of movement when i moved my eyes.

i checked my paw nest, and unsheathed my claws. before, they had been two-three inches. now when i unsheathed them they were four-five inches, and i experimentally kneaded the dirt. i barely felt any resistance. my claws were longer, i was at least two or three times as strong, and i could see farther and see clearer. though sometimes my vision would go red for a few seconds.

as i was inspecting myself, i smelled the dull scent of prey. i wasn't interested in eating it, but i had never smelled something so dull before. i was curious of what could be so weak, and followed the scent trail through the trees. it was much harder to creep now that i was taller than all the undergrowth, but since i wasn't interested in eating whatever it was i didn't bother to try.

after making my way through some trees i came across a stream. in it were several beaver-like creatures. the difference between these and regular beavers was that these had fangs and spikes on the bottom of their tails. i walked up to the edge of the waterline, and took a drink while observing the strange creatures. when some kind of sixth sense alerted them to my presence, they immediately scrambled up the bank on the opposite side of the river from me. the way they talked was strange, consisting of hisses and squeaks, and occasionally a bark.

the strange thing was, i could understand a word her and there. it shocked, as so far every creature i had met had spoken in languages that i had no idea how to translate. but here, i could understand every fifth or sixth word. and even as i listened, i could understand more and more of their speech. i was excited, and from what i could hear, they were discussing whether to flee or to attempt to drive me off. i chuckled at the thought of such dull smelling creatures driving me off.

i attempted to communicete, and tried to say "i don't want to eat you, how about we talk?"

at this, they got scared. i guessed that my attempt at talking to them had failed. but instead of running away, the leader said something to me, like "you not eat?"

"no, i don't want to eat you. i just want to talk."

"you try trick us! we not get eat!"

"you can stay over there if you want, i'll just sit over here."

and with that i made myself comfortable. i was hungry, but a few more moments of hunger were worth talking to another intelligent being. i know i talk to jordan, but he doesn't count as intelligent.

when i did this, the other beavers looked at their leader in confusion "you, not eat us?"

"no. i only eat things that are worth the energy of chewing." as we talked i was getting a better grasp of their language, and could understand it better. i wondered if my evolution had anything to do with it, or if it was something to do with the beavers. but i would answer those questions later.

the beavers were still cautious, but the leader sat down like me. "why talk with us?"

"because, you are the first animals whose language i can understand. what is your name?"

he looked surprised that i would ask his name, and he responded a little quicker than normal. i think he was also getting used to conversing with a large cat. " me name be Talkir."

"greetings, Talkir. my name is Shadowpelt."

"greetings, Shadowpelt. if you not eat us, what do you want?"

"i want to ask you some questions. would you mind answering them?"

"not at all. what would you like to know?"

"what is the name of this forest?"

"this forest be named 'dark ends retreat'"

"who controls this forest?"

"the king do. he big, white, and has sharp claws. even bigger than Shadowpelt."

"then, do you know of a giant frog that lived in the swampy part of the forest?"

"oh, you mean Goro. yes, he wise and have fire cane. you meet Goro?"

"i killed him, actually. and ate him."

the beavers face went white, and he looked as terrified as beavers could. "y-you ate Goro?"

"yes. i have some other questions, would you mind answering them?"

"y-yes. i just surprised. Goro was strongest i knew."

"yes. the fight was hard. if it weren't for my abilities and experience, i wouldn't have lasted more than two seconds against him. tell me, do you also know of a spiders nest?"

"yes, it be in the darker part of the forest."

Authors note: so, to not get anyone confuse, the cave Shadowpelt sleeps in is west of the forest. the lake is right in the middle, the swamp is south of the lake, and the dark part is north.

"i see. do you know what kind of creature the queen is?"

"she be scary, big, has many legs and spit poison and web, make spiders every day."

"i see. well, thank you for the infromation." i said as i got up. "if you ever need help, come to the cave up on the mountain. if i'm not busy, i'll help you." and i left, slowly swaying my tail while deep in thought.

---

"that was scary, Talkir. who knew that such a dangerous creature roams this forest."

Talkir looked at jay, and slowly nodded in agreement. "he says he killed and ate Goro. anyone who can claim that must be strong. though, why did he say he'd help us if we ever needed it? is he just trying to lure us to his cave to eat us?"

but then, he could have snuck up on us and he would probably have eaten at least five of us before we got away. perhaps he really did mean that he didn't want to eat us. Talkir recalled the predators words, "i only eat things that are worth the effort to chew." Talkir shivered. then he realized something. he had asked about the king and the queen. maybe, and this made Talkir very afraid, Shadowpelt was hungry again. and if Goro was what satisfied him, then he felt that maybe he should stay away from the queen and king for awhile. at least until they stopped fighting. he would not want to be caught in the middle of a fight between Shadowpelt and the queen, Cassandra.

---

the queen, huh? it sounded interesting. when he had been a day old jordan had said that the queen had heard of him, and was going to try and kill him. he hadn't met any spiders since then, but he guessed it was because he hadn't ever gone towards the dark part of the forest. as i made my way towards the dark forest, i felt rather than heard the scuttling coming from the trees. i could begin to make out more and more webs, and every now and then a spider would scuttle away from me. the spiders no longer smelled sharp, and i wondered why. my thoughts were interrupted by a large party of spiders led by one bigger one.

from what i knew, getting that many spiders together should have taken at least an hour, so the fact they had gotten here within fifteen minutes meant that they had been on standby. now that i was the size of a lion, the spiders wooked rather small. the one leading them had light blue patterns all over its body, and i guessed that it had evolved twice. i could see five to ten spiders with patterns on their backs, but the one that was leading them was at least twice as big, and its patterns were extensive.

no words were exchanged between the blue spider and his subordinates, when they saw me they all rushed at me and attempted to surround me. i let them. in fact, i didn't move a single muscle. i didn't even blink. what i thought, was that they were very unlucky to have made their home in such a dark place.

and then, out of nowhere, they heard a voice.

"One."

and then spiders began to die.

"Two, three, four, five, six."

their tiny brains couldn't understand. the black furred creature was motionless and surrounded by them, why were they dying?

"seven, eight, nine, ten."

the blue spider looked around, but couldn't see anything. just the spurts of gore when his spiders exploded.

"eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. hehe."

when the voice rung fourteen, the creature in the middle disappeared, and they could see one by the bodys of their recently deceased brethren. 'damn, guess my ability ran out'

"hehe, i've been caught red handed, haven't i? or, should i say green pawed?"

Shadowpelt showed them his paws covered in green blood and gore.

"hehe, crunching them with my new strength is so much fun. but i kind of miss the blood and guts falling right out of their bellies. lets rectify that, shall we? hehe."

the spiders hesitated, and looked to their leader for instructions. 'do we really have to fight this psychopath?'

the blue spider screeched his instructions, and they charged Shadowpelt. then foot-long blades made of shadow extended from his claws. 'shadow blade doesn't have a timeout, it just drains stamina. so i should be able to dice up this group without much trouble, and by the time i get to the queen my shadow image should have recharged.

and so, i prepared to slice them to pieces, and smiled. this also led to me showing my fangs as an added bonus, and i almost laughed at the thought of cutting them into sections. however, the earth shook as a massive female spider came out from the darkness, and said.

"Who disturbs my rest?"

the spider queen sure knew how to make an entrance.

"you can speak?" i asked in what i hoped was i polite tone, but i'm afraid a tiny bit of my blood thirst slipped out.

"grrrr, you dare to speak to me, Cassandra, the queen of the forest?" she didn't look very intimidating from my viewpoint, as she still had the remains of her last meal on her face.

while she was speaking, i was taking a look at the ability that i had gotten. it came at level five, so i didn't expect much, but it was fitting.

"you dare to speak that way toward the future king of the forest?" i said while activating my new ability. 'fear' where i stimulated the fear senses in the brain through my eyes, leading those who were weak willed to flee in terror when they looked into my eyes..

"the spider queen didn't flinch, but blue and his friends backed off. 'perfect.' i thought. i didn't want the small fries to get in the way.

but first, some banter.

"you think that you can defeat Demius? i very much doubt that. now, come at me, you shouldn't keep a lady waiting."

"so your saying i can keep you waiting for as long as i like? cause your not exactly lady material."

"grrrr, shut up. all women deserve to be treated like ladies."

"and i would, but you keep growling, and its kind of hard to see a large, growling spider with her last meal on her face as a lady. if you are what constitutes a lady within this world, then i would have been better off dating Goro."

"you dare compare me to that insolent frog?! i will rip your head off and feed it to my young! he got run off into that swamp because he wasn't strong enough to defend himself from me! now stay still and accept your doom." if she had a human face, i think that it would be red. on a side note, it seemed that i was quite good at aggravating women. the skills you never knew you had until you use them.

"well, actually i thought he was quite strong, and while he tasted kinda old, he was quite delicious."

when i said this, i think i could discern a quick moment of doubt on her features, but she quickly covered it. "ha, so what if you ate an old geezer? you won't be able to brag about it after you don't have a throat!" and saying so, she jumped at me. i didn't know something so large could jump so high.

i leaped to the left, and narrowly avoided becoming a stain on the ground. when she turned to me, she lashed out with her front legs, moving from both sides.

"is that the best you can do? hehe."

activating shadow blade in both paws, i slashed upward, cutting off a good half of her front legs.

"is that the best that you can do?" and to my surprise, her legs started growing back.

"well? what do you think of my regeneration? does it make your bones tremble? does it-"

she cut off as she saw that i was drooling. "hehe, this means that while your alive i can eat as much of you as i want, and you will just keep coming back! hahaha!" i started laughing, and she hesitated. already smiling, it grew even wider. "you made a mistake, hehe. hesitate and you will die."

i ran forward, and she just barely brought her legs up in front of her face. i still slashed through them. "ahhh!" she screamed as four of her eyes were cut apart. she jumped back, and circled me warily as her legs grew back. her eyes seemed to take longer to regenerate, and i would make use of this fact. but right at that moment.

"go! take him, my children, and turn him into carrion!"

'really?' i thought as she sent her disposable minions at me. but i kept laughing.

"hehe, you want a piece too? then come and get it!" i leapt into the midst of them, and began the dance of death. spinning and slicing the spiders to pieces was fun. "Fifteen! sixteen! seventeen! come one, come all! eighteen! nineteen!" i kept laughing, and killing them. soon i was so soaked with green blood that you couldn't even see the read streaks."fifty-six!" and i came to a stop, looking at my handy work. the ground around me for seven feet around me was covered in a carpet of spider bodies. i turned to look at the queen, still smiling, still laughing.

"your a sick bastard. who can laugh while killing? i will stop you from becoming any stronger. if a monster like you is allowed to grow stronger then the whole forest would be in danger."

"hehe, so now your the good guy? hehe."

"no, but you would be too much of a menace. you need to be stopped."

"then try it. hehe. i dare you."

no more words were said, she spun strings that looked like fences to the side of me, trapping me, so i couldn't move to either side, and she moved forward, spitting a poisonous liquid while advancing. "hehe." i used my regular claws to pull some of the web in front of me, and blocked the poison. when i let go of the web, it disintegrated. i also ran forward, and once again she came at me with her legs, but this time she stood on her back four legs while using all four of her front ones to attack.

side. down. up. side. every direction at once, her legs came at me. i cut off two with shadow blade, but the other two hit, and sent me flying. i wasn't hurt very badly, this bodies bones seemed stronger than my previous ones. i only had a few brusies, and a couple cuts from the barbs on her legs. i smiled even wider, my lips nearly reaching my ears. "he he, it looks like she can fight." i ran forward and stopped, she brought her legs up to defend from whatever attack i launched, but out of nowhere her two back legs to her left were cut off.

"ahh! what was that?" she looked at my motionless body in time to see it disappearing. "illusion!" and spun around with her legs, in a wide sweep that covered all the ground around her. i jumped, and the wind created by her attack moved the branches of the trees enough that the shadows wrapped around my body were dispelled.

"he he, your smarter than your children." her legs came once more, but this time i was outside of her webs, and could both cut off two of her legs and dodge the other two. she growled, and spat more poison at me, trying to melt me into puddle. as i fought, i could feel myself getting stronger instead of weaker. it was like fighting was a drug, one that made all the pain go away. i could forget about my master, my death, and my failure to protect silica. i fought, i laughed, and i loved it.

"ha ha! keep going! don't stop now! you can do better than that!" i yelled encouragement and taunts to try and make her faster, to make the fight longer, to make it more exiting. as the fight went on, her regeneration slowed, and her poison took a few seconds to melt the ground. each time i cut off a leg, i would be rewarded with a splash of blood, and each time i made it past her defenses i got the treat of taking a bite directly out of her body. even though i laughed, it wasn't an easy fight. the cuts on my body pile up, and the next time she sent me flying i made an indent on the ground. my blood and hers mixed on the ground, she grunted, i laughed. she scowled, i smiled. it felt invigorating, to bleed and to taste blood. the cut and be cut. to slash her body apart while she ripped the skin off of my body.

she shot a web that hit me square in the chest, and swung me around like a toy. smashed into a tree, and my bones held, barely. i bit the web and severed it, then leaped onto her back and used my paw to smash a piece of her carapace and put my head into her flesh, feasting on her living muscle. it was invigorating. the pain and ache from my bones felt inconsequential. all that mattered was the meal. she bucked me off, and i managed to land on my feet, but she gave me no time to recover as her legs shot toward me like bullets. i dodged all but one, which i cut to pieces with my claws. i couldn't activate shadow blades cause if i did, i would get so tired i would probably pass out, and it looked like she couldn't spit or spin web without doing the same. and so, our brutal fight continued.

the next time she shot her legs at me, i barely sidestepped one and instead of shearing it off with my claws, i bit into it. for a second, she couldn't pull her leg back since it was in my mouth. then we both heard a smacking crunch, and i crushed her leg in my jaws. when it didn't heal as fast as her other legs, my guess was proven correct. she could replace separated limbs quite easily, but damaged ones were much harder to heal. "found your secret...he he." she looked even madder, and her three remaining legs shot forward. i dodged two and cut off one. then i bit into a second. crunching into the bone. she howled in pain, and jumped again. it wasn't as high as her first one, as three off her legs didn't work, but for someone like me she was big enough to not need momentum to crush me.

as she fell, i smiled.

"fifty-seven."

and i disappeared underneath her. she roared her victory, and took a few seconds to catch her breath. that was when she felt the burning pain in her belly. "No! i'm the queen of the forest! you can't kill m-"

and a two fangs emerged from her face, through her brain and out into the open air. then the jaws closed, and a red and black monster could be seen eating her insides, laughing between mouthfuls, and smiling through it all. after gulping down as much delicious flesh as he could, he crawled out of her near hollow carapace. "i really should thank those beavers. they sent me to a great meal, and it even had before meal entertainment! ha ha ha ha!" and then Shadowpelt fainted in the middle of her corpse from the combined pain of countless cuts and bruises and the extreme fatigue he had accumulated from activating all of his abilities multiple times.

that day, he slept like the four day old kitten he was.

end of chapter 4